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Sykes Enterprises, Inc.

September 30, 2008 | Comments: 0
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Sykes Enterprises, Inc. (SYKE - Snapshot Report) is experiencing strong growth from its international markets while cutting costs, a potent one-two punch that enabled the company to deliver strong second quarter results. The company's share price has been rallying since lat July.

Company Description

Sykes Enterprises provides outscored customer contact management solutions and services both domestically and internationally. The company was founded in 1977, has a market cap of $980 million and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.

Second-Quarter Results

Sykes pleased shareholders by stepping up and reporting impressive second-quarter results on Aug 4. Revenue was up 23% from last year to $207.6 million. Net income more than doubled, climbing to $17.7 million from $6.3 million in the same quarter last year. This produced earnings of 43 cents per share, blowing past analyst estimates of 30 cents per share.

This was the fourth time in four quarters that the company ha surprised and beaten analyst estimates, having done so by an average of 9 cents, or 39%.

Strong Domestic and International Growth

The company reported strong growth from multiple regions, with the Americas region, including North America, Latin America and Asia pacific posting 22% growth from last year. Revenue from the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions increased 27%.

While revenue was growing, Sykes did itself a favor by cutting costs, which declined 6% during the quarter to $9.6 million.

Guidance and Estimates

After the solid quarterly results, Sykes raised its full-year guidance. The company now expects earnings between $1.39 and $1.44 per share on revenue between $825 million and $830 million, up from the previous range between $1.24 and $1.33 per share on revenue between $815 and $830 million.

Analysts are projecting respectable growth from Sykes in the next-year period, with the consensus estimate pegged at $1.48 per share, a 5% earnings growth projection.

The Chart

Shares of SYKE have been advancing since finding a short-term bottom in late July, recently breaking above the $22 mark. The 52-week and all-time high is now close at hand, just above $22. Take a look at the chart.